College of the Redwoods Athletics

The College of the Redwoods men faced off against Yuba in the opening round of the Modesto tournament on Thursday in a game that got away from them late.

The 49ers enjoyed the better of exchanges over the final six minutes and won 90-75.

Overall, however, CR did a good job against one of the best post teams in the nation, and it was back and forth for much of the day.

“It was a very competitive game with a couple of lead changes throughout, but the final six minutes got away form us,” CR head coach Justin Claus said. “We made some simple mistakes and Yuba did an excellent job capitalizing on each one.”

Yuba, which improved to 6-4, is in the 98 percentile of junior colleges nationally in possessions played through the post and the 49ers play through their bigs more than most teams.

Claus and his players did a good job defending that throughout Thursday’s game, but a switch in strategy paid off late in the game for Yuba.

“Our guys spent the week preparing for a detailed and extensive defensive game plan to counter their sets and post actions,” Claus said. “I thought our execution in that area was tremendous.”

Luka Radovanovic led the way on that side of the ball and was “sensational in his defensive engagement tonight,” the CR coach said.

Late in the game, however, Yuba switched things up and began spacing the floor and driving, and it worked.

“We gave up some easy buckets and lost our edge defensively,” Claus added. 

Marcos Rosales led CR offensively with 19 points, while former McKinleyville Panther Cody Whitmer finished with 15 points and Radovanovic added 13 points.

Nate Sweet chipped in 10 points.

With the loss, CR dropped to 7-6 on the season.

Claus and his players will look to bounce back when they play Fresno City in tournament action on Friday at 1:30 p.m.